Suntory Yamazaki 12 Year 750 ml

Yamazaki 12 Year is a Japanese single malt whisky from the country's first malt distillery, opened by Suntory in 1923 in the hills between Kyoto and Osaka. It matures in three woods — American oak, Spanish sherry casks, and native Japanese Mizunara oak, the rare, porous species that lends a sandalwood-and-incense character you won't find anywhere else. Bottled at 86 proof, it opens with strawberry, wild honey, and candied orange, moves through coconut and cranberry, and finishes long on sweet ginger and cinnamon. It is the bottle that put Japanese whisky on the world map and still sets the reference point. Pour it neat or with a single drop of water; save the ice for lesser drams.

How to drink Yamazaki 12 Year

A few drops of water opens the fruit further than ice will; the Japanese highball (soda, tall glass, lots of ice) is the other classic route if you want it lighter and more sessionable. Either way, treat it as a sipping whisky, not a mixer.

Japanese Whisky86 proof · Mash bill: 100% malted barley · American oak, Spanish sherry, Mizunara oak · Japan